


Under Cover of Darkness

by wildlings



Category: EXO (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Detectives, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-07-23 14:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7466115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildlings/pseuds/wildlings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the youngest detective at 406 precinct, Oh Sehun, was tasked with going undercover at a university in Seoul, he thought he'd spend time reliving his glory years at university. He didn't think he'd end up uncovering a murderous plot and ending up on the edge of death himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

** **

 

**After**

 

 Sehun winced, pressing his palm to his temple and feeling it come away wet and sticky. He couldn't remember how he ended up... Where? Where was he? 

 

He brushed the sticky material he was sure was dried blood down the front of his shirt to clean his hand before feeling around for his phone. When he managed to tug it out of his pocket, his breath hitched. 

 

He was lying down, his knees knocking the wood in front of him if he tried to shift. The darkness encompassed him, and his breathing was constricted. 

 

When the screen lit up, illuminating his surroundings he fought the urge to scream. 

 

4% Battery. No service.

 

Sehun swallowed, his hands shaking as he attempted to call 119 anyway. When the call couldn't connect he took a deep breath, trying to hold in his panic.

 

"IS ANYONE OUT THERE?!" His palms struck the flat surface above him in an uneven beat. "CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?! HELP!" 

 

A message chimed and he exhaled, pulling the phone up to his face so he could read. _"Too late."_


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Homicide Unit takes on a new case and Sehun is volunteered to go undercover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first few chapters are introductory in order to learn more about the characters and the situation, but they'll get more interesting, I promise!

 

  **Before**

 

The precinct was filled with the sound of shuffling papers, rolling chairs, and trainers making squeaky scuffing noises as they slid across the polished floor. 

 

Sehun was leaning back in his own seat, eyes closed, as he evened out his breathing. The absence of voices wasn't lost on him.

 

_"We've had reports of another missing student at Minyoung University in South of Seoul. Homicide hadn't been involved because none of the students had been found... Dead or alive."_

_Sehun scanned the file in front of him, glancing up to see the narrowed eyes of his superior, Chief Kim Junmyeon, as he reported to the homicide unit in their briefing._

_Surrounding the table in the dimly lit room were several other homicide detectives and officers that worked in 406._

_Park Chanyeol sat inattentively, his fingers brushing across the trackpad on his ever present laptop. Chanyeol was their information specialist. He liked learning. Therefore anything anyone in the precinct needed to know, they would ask Chanyeol._

_Sehun returned his gaze to Chief Kim, who'd sighed deeply as he continued._

_"Yesterday at 04:56, a student was found hanging in his room. Suicide was ruled out immediately at the scene by Lead Detectives Wang and Song." He motioned over to the two women, sitting with their arms crossed towards the back of the room._

_"CSU," Detective Song spoke evenly, "was able to confirm that the body was hung post-mortem. They died before they were staged to look like they'd committed suicide."_

_Junmyeon nodded before he spoke again. "Organised Crime knows it's not Gang activity. They haven't ruled out fraternity hazing. The problem is it's been nearly impossible for detectives to collect much information, particularly as the students aren't very forthcoming." Junmyeon's mouth became a thin line._

_"They suggested an undercover operation. Two months tops." Sehun's attention was fully trained on the chief then. "We have the youngest detective in this area. They thought it would be best if our own Oh Sehun would... Volunteer."_

_His spine straightened. He'd wanted to be more involved, as a junior detective, but this entire scenario had escalated faster than he was able to keep up._

_"They want me undercover at Minyoung U?" He clarified, swallowing slowly. Suddenly he was aware that everyone in the room had given him their full attention as well. Junmyeon nodded. "They'd brief you more, but you'd essentially be enrolled in various classes, dorm there, and participate in clubs and activities in order to collect as much information as you could. They believe the students will be more willing to share their secrets and lies with a fellow student, rather than a cop."_

_He blinked once. Twice. Detective Wang cleared her throat and Sehun glanced back at her. She looked mildly concerned, her brow creasing in the center. Sehun turned back._

_"I'll do it."_

I figured. _It looked like Junmyeon was thinking. He took a deep breath before looking at the cluster of officers around the table. "Well, that wraps up our meeting today. Detectives Wang and Song, if you'd please remain to discuss this further, that would be great. Everyone else, you're dismissed."_

_The lights flickered on and Sehun closed his eyes against the brightness as everyone shuffled out of their seats and out the door. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder, briefly, and abruptly stood. It was the ME, Bae Irene, who shared a small, apologetic smile with him before exiting as well._

_Detectives Song and Wang had already made their way to the front of the room and were speaking in low voices to Chief Kim, so Sehun merely collected his things and walked out the door to his desk._

 

Detective Wang exited the room. The click of her heel alerting Sehun to her presence. He righted his seat as he opened his eyes. "What's the likelihood that this is going to work? Or go as planned?" He didn't bother with formalities, small talk, or any form of chit chat before he spoke to her. 

 

She stopped what she had been doing - collecting papers that were strewn across her desk - and looked over at him. 

 

"It will work." Her voice didn't waver, but he didn't expect her to. 

 

"Why does this assignment make you so nervous?"

 

That much he'd caught on to while still inside the room. Her brusque attitude now was just confirming it. But she scoffed at his words, looking at the papers held lightly in her hands. "Please. When have I ever been nervous?" 

 

"Fei." His voice deepened. She furrowed her brows at him, staring him in his eyes. 

 

"It was mistake. It was a mistake and I think we might have never seen this for what it was if they hadn't screwed up such _small details_." She was quiet. Her jaw worked as she clenched and unclenched. "It doesn't seem safe to put any of our officers in danger when it could be a serial murder case and we don't have enough information."

 

The murder scene, he gathered, was on her mind. He frowned deeply himself. "It's missing students and one body. They might not even be connected. How does that lead you to think we're dealing with serial murder?"

 

Wang Fei Fei was one of the senior detectives at 406. She'd worked her way up the rankings until she was lead detective along with her partner of nearly 7 years, Song Qian. 

 

Sehun had become close to Fei, her warm personality calling to Sehun's own extroverted persona. Qian, on the other hand, had a tendency to keep most people at an arm's length. 

 

He'd only really started working with Fei and Qian when he was promoted to junior detective, a year and four months after he'd started at the precinct. But Fei had helped him immensely. 

 

Fei cleared her throat. "Gut. I sense something sinister and it hasn't sat well with me. I asked Irene to review a few case files for recent suicides at MYU just to make sure we haven't missed anything. Whoever did this..." She paused pensively before continuing. 

 

"Sehun... they're good."


	3. Chapter 2

Sehun tugged his well worn backpack over one shoulder as he nudged his way through the precinct door, making his way directly to the conference room to begin his briefing with the OC unit. Their work primarily dealt with organisations and gangs, but for such a wide range of missing students and the staged suicide, they believed they were dealing with a group. And a skilled one.

 

"...but if it were a gang, obviously we'd have found bodies by now. Most likely partial, gruesome, and unwelcome, but they'd be out there." The voice carried as Sehun pushed through the conference door.

 

There were three people seated at the oval table. The one who had been speaking was closest, sitting on Sehun's side of the table, while the other two rose and offered Sehun their hands for shaking. Leaning to reach from over the table, Sehun gripped his elbow with his free hand as he shook the hand of the OC agents.

 

"Detective Oh, please sit." The lead detective motioned to the free seat beside the man who'd been speaking when he walked in. "I'm sure you already know detective Jung Soojung-" he turned his head to the woman beside him, "and detective Leechai-" The lead detective was cut off by the detective he was introducing.

 

"Call me Ten."

 

Sehun hadn't formally met any of the officers prior to walking through the door, but their reputations for successful operations had preceded them. The lead detective, and the one who'd introduced the others to Sehun was Detective Lee Taeyong, known particularly for his cold demeanour and calculating expressions - neither of which Sehun was seeing at the moment. "Pleased to meet you."

 

Taeyong sat and pushed a stack of books with a Manila folder on top towards Sehun. He opened the folder, but only glanced at the headings while he waited for the lead detective to begin.

 

"We've already set you up with a full schedule at MYU. You'll be taking a variety of courses, but when putting together your schedule we focused on the courses the missing students were in. Most were high honour students, and since several were criminology and sociology majors, that's your cover. Aside from becoming close to students within each class, you also have to find information on in-school organisations."

 

Taeyong took a breath, but Soojung picked up where he left off. "CSU's evidence and the homicide unit seem to point to these crimes being group work. What better than clubs, sports teams, and fraternities-"

 

"Or sororities!" Ten cut in.

 

"-to create group bonds strong enough to commit crimes together?" Soojung cut a glance at Ten, who only smiled back at her.

 

"We don't expect you to join any of them, but if you can create an in or get close we could use any information."

 

Sehun turned to Ten, who was beside him. "If you suspect sororities equally, are you sending in a female agent as well?"

 

Ten shook his head. "For the sake of equality, we suspect them equally, as evidence is inconclusive of gender... But no, we haven't decided on sending in a female agent... yet."

 

Taeyong intertwined his fingers, propping his chin on them as he listened to the others speak.

 

"We have to find whoever is doing this. Whoever has kidnapped these students. Whoever staged that suicide. It's priority one at our unit. We'd rather catch the suspect before the missing students become dead students."

 

Sehun raised a brow. The two cases were connected by a thin thread. A student was missing. Later, he was found in his room hanging, an apparent suicide, which was then ruled homicide when CSU discovered that the student was hung after he'd been killed. If he hadn't been missing prior to being found, dead, in his room, would the cases have overlapped like they did? Sehun sensed that there was more to the case than he was being let in on. In his silence, Soojung shifted, likely sensing his own train of thought.

 

"When do I start?" He'd picked up his class schedule from the folder, his mouth quirking up at the side when he spotted something familiar.

 

"In two days. We weren't able to get you into the dorms, but there are off-campus student housing units that are pretty much the same. You'll be rooming with two other students in an apartment for the time being.

 

"You'll be given a new phone for the case, when you go to IT. In it will be the numbers of your handlers and contacts. I'll be in there, under TY, and Soojung under Krystal. If you need to, you can contact us sparingly. Communication in the precinct will stop. We don't need you losing any credibility with the student body for being close to the cops. After classes end you pick up a shift at the campus bookstore-slash-coffee shop until closing. We're trying to keep you open and approachable, so as long as you keep up the friendly, laissez-faire air you should be able to get us something."

 

He resisted the urge to snort. It all seemed simple enough. Which was what perplexed him the most. Information in exchange for a (sort of) mini vacation. He wondered if he would be able to get Chanyeol to write his papers for him, if he needed to maintain his cover and the professors weren't to know he was an agent.

 

\---

 

A bell chimed in the distance, the leaves scattering across the concrete sidewalks that weaved geometric patterns around the campus buildings and common areas. Sehun ran a hand through his hair, biting down on his lip against the chill that relentlessly nipped at any sign of exposed skin. Seoul was in limbo between Autumn and Winter and Sehun's stalled welcome was costing him.

 

Just as he worked himself into moving forward, his phone buzzed in his coat pocket and he slid his finger across the screen as he read the name. _PCY Hyung._

 

"Remind me again how this is going to work out." He answered the phone, making his way across campus. Chanyeol took a breath, typing away at his keyboard. "You're a regular university student majoring in criminal behaviour and minoring in social and abnormal psychology. You'll attend an array of classes that many missing students were enrolled in as well as working in a shop pretty much the entire student body frequents. You'll get information, give it to TY and then you'll come back and resume your normal, boring, daily life."

 

Sehun laughed, "Well, you sound confident it'll be easy." He almost heard Chanyeol smile through the phone while he pushed past the large wooden doors.

 

"You'll enjoy it, even. And don't worry, Baekhyun was called in for additional consultations and my boyfriend will be there. I already called him to let him know you'll be there today, so he's keeping an eye out for you."

 

"You told your boyfriend about my _undercover_ operation?" Sehun’s voice dropped to a whisper, though he was quite alone outside. It didn't seem like the brightest idea of Chanyeol, but he didn't _often_ make stupid decisions. Chanyeol scoffed, "just because he's my boyfriend doesn't mean I'm the only connection he has at the precinct. He's a doctor in criminology. He knows the police better than you do."

 

"Okay hyung. My class is starting now, so I'm hanging up... Bye!" He clicked the power button before stepping into the lecture hall. It was the middle of the week, so Sehun's first class that day was a literature class and he'd arrived before the professor. Students were chatting with other students and Sehun used the opportunity to find a free seat.

 

The door opened with a loud squeak and in walked a man in all black, from his dress shoes all the way to his shiny black hair. What Sehun noticed immediately, though, was his deep eye smile, tan skin, and the way the entire class quieted with his presence. He seemed too young to be a professor, though.

 

"Good morning. Professor Joon asked me to take over today's lesson. I hope you all read the assignment because we'll be writing about it in groups later."

 

He clasped his hands, the smile never wavering.

 

Classes had begun nearly two weeks before Sehun was enrolled, so he wasn't quite sure what he was to expect. At least he knew that the man in front wasn't his professor.

 

"Open your books to 193, let's read from the beginning of the chapter. If you don't have your book team up with someone beside you."

 

Sehun reached down to his bag and pulled out the book, flipping the pages until he reached the chapter. Just as he looked up, a chair rolled over to him and he turned. "Hi. I'm Youngjae. Do you mind if I look on with you? I left mine in my room." He gave a shy, sheepish smile that Sehun returned easily. "Sure."

  
He positioned the book between them and leaned in when a student in the front started to read from the pages. "Who's the guy?" He nodded at the person leading the class. Youngjae answered easily, "he's the TA, getting his master's in literature and arts. He's probably taught more lessons than our actual professor. His name is Kim Jongin, but he says he prefers Kai."


	4. Chapter 3

Sehun was going to kill Taeyong. He took a deep breath, pulling his bag over his shoulder and making his way across the campus to the student housing. Chanyeol had sent a location ping to his phone to help him find the apartment. He’d gone straight to his morning class as Taeyong suggested, letting Chanyeol arrange for his things to be moved to the apartment throughout the morning. He’d promised it’d be one less headache.   
  
It was close enough, he figured, that he could easily walk from classes to the cafe and to his apartment without much effort. No buses or methods of transport would be necessary. At least Taeyong had given him that much.   
  
Almost as though he sensed his name being cursed, the letters TY lit up on Sehun’s phone screen.   
  
“Well, they say speak of the devil.” Sehun answered the call, not pausing from his walk.   
  
“Am I the devil? That’s cute. Though I thought the phrase is meant to summon.” Taeyong’s voice lacked inflection, but Sehun didn’t doubt he was amused nonetheless. 

 

“For all I know, you could be lurking somewhere out here.” Sehun shrugged to himself, “How was your first day of school?” Now Sehun was certain Taeyong was amused. He rolled his eyes.   
  
“I’ll kick your ass when I see you again.” Sehun replied, stopping when he reached a green door and checking his pockets for the keycode. “It’s a house? I thought it was supposed to be a student apartment complex?”   
  
Taeyong snorted, “Kick my ass for what? Finding you the best temporary living arrangement? You’re welcome.” There was a brief pause, “Wait, did you just see it?” Another pause, “Your shift ended almost an hour ago.”

 

Sehun pushed in the numbers that had been written neatly on the parchment and the door beeped, allowing him entrance. He switched the phone to his other ear as he leaned down to pull his shoes off before stepping into the house. It wasn’t huge, Sehun figured it was a split level with at most three rooms. The kitchen was in front of him, though a wall offered some privacy. He continued speaking while slowly taking in his surroundings.

 

“Well, it’s certainly better than I expected.” The kitchen lights were off, but up the stairs to the left of it was lit, so Sehun walked forward slowly. “The manager at the coffee shop is a bit obsessed with coffee, you know. He had me sniff and taste at least six different varieties. I’m unsure of whether or not I’ll be able to sleep tonight.”

 

At the top of the stairs, there was a living area, a blue couch and other seats around a white coffee table, further to the back wall another seating area surrounded a rather large television. The wall on Sehun’s right opened to overlook the kitchen and eating area. To Sehun’s left there were two closed doors that he assumed were bedrooms, and then closer to the back there were another two doors. 

 

On the couch, a girl was lying with her face buried in a book.

 

“My coworker also doesn’t speak much. He’s constantly walking about with a broom and barely said two words to me the whole shift.” Sehun continued, leaning on the wall. His voice had dropped, trying not to bother the others.   
  
“Sicheng? I love him. He’s a foreign exchange Sehun, and he doesn’t know you. You’re the extrovert. You talk to him first. He’s actually quite friendly and adorable if I may say so.” Sehun didn’t speak for a minute.   
  
Youngjae poked his head out from the door closest to Sehun. “Wait. Sehun?” He waved aggressively, and the girl on the couch lowered the book to inspect who Youngjae was addressing.

 

“You know what, you’re right. It’s day one. I should give things more time. I’ll also talk to… what was it? Sicheng? I’ll talk to Sicheng as well. When I get into the ritual of it all, I’ll call you back.” He hung up before Taeyong could continue and tucked his phone back into his pocket.

 

“Youngjae? Do you live here?” Sehun walked forward to offer a handshake, which made Youngjae grin. 

 

“Yes, I do. And another roommate--” He shook his head when Sehun glanced at the girl on the couch, “Ah, no, not Seol, she’s just a classmate. Our roommate, Mark, is in his room, I think?” He looked at the closed door behind him and shrugged before continuing. “So you’re the one who moved into the empty room. I wondered. I suppose it makes sense since you’re new and all.” Youngjae stepped out of his room and guides Sehun towards the seating area.

 

The girl sits up, setting the book facedown on the table, page open to her spot.

 

“This is Lee Seol… Actually, she was supposed to be in our class this morning but skipped.” She placed a hand out to Sehun to shake, though he’d been in the process of bowing slightly. He took her hand and shook it. “Pleasure to meet you, I’m Oh Sehun.” He looked to Youngjae, but Seol spoke first.

 

“I didn’t skip, I was  _ following a lead _ . Really, Youngjae, it’s like you don’t listen when I speak. How can you be a journalist when you miss so much.” She took a breath and smiled at Sehun. “It’s not as though I missed anything anyway, I heard TA Kim taught today. I finished the reading anyway,” she motioned to the book.

 

“Are you also a journalism major?” She spoke to Sehun clearly, crossing her arms. She wasn’t cold, but she seemed like she had defenses raised. Sehun figured she wasn’t the type to let people in easily. He’d known Youngjae all of one day though, and he believed that if Youngjae was close enough to her to let her lounge on their couch she was likely a decent person.

 

“Criminal behaviour with social and abnormal psych minors. The minors are just out of curiosity.” He sounded slightly pretentious to his own ears, she quirked a brow.

 

“Interested in the minds of criminals? What do you think it says about you?”

 

Before Sehun could answer, Youngjae cut in. “Actually she’s also a criminology major, so whatever it says probably speaks volumes about her too.” She swatted at Youngjae when he reached forward. “The criminology is a dual with journalism. What better way to investigate and write about something than to understand it wholly?” Sehun then raised his own brows, recalling that she’d mentioned “following a lead” earlier. He was curious.

 

Youngjae gently tugged on Sehun’s jacket sleeve, drawing his attention. “Your room is the one beside the television. Don’t worry about the sound, we don’t often stay up late to play, but the door is fairly thick anyway? Me and Mark have been paying the rent between us for two months so he’s probably sleeping off his double shift at the mini-mart behind the campus. I think he’ll be thankful we can split it between three again.” He lead Sehun towards the room. “The movers took everything in directly. It also looked like they put everything in place too, so there should only be a few boxes about.”

 

Sehun nodded, “Thank you. I actually should probably wash up--” Youngjae smiled and pointed to the closest door to Sehun’s room. “Washroom’s free. There’s one up here and one near the foyer. Extra towels are in the closet inside. Kitchen is also free to use. Mark and I aren’t stingy so whatever you see you can eat or use, I only asked that if you are good at cooking that you make enough to share.” He drew his hands together as though to pray. “Please tell me you can cook.” He pleaded softly.

 

Sehun snorted, “I can make enough to survive on. We’ll throw down one day, but please tell me there’s a griddle or grill or something. I’m better at grilling.”    
  
“If it were daytime, I’d show you outside. But we have both. Most of the furnishings came with the house, we’re sort of lucky as hell to live here.” Youngjae shrugged, “Ah, which reminds me, we have a washer but no dryer. If you need to dry there are lines in the yard. There’s also a balcony down the hall that the washroom is in.”

 

“I’m staying the night! It’s like almost midnight!” Seol called from her place on the couch, Youngjae glanced at his watch. He looked to Sehun, “Don’t mind. She does that sometimes. Especially if she doesn’t want to go back to the dorm. And she rounds up a lot.” To Seol he raised his voice, “It’s like barely 11, what do you mean it’s midnight?” 

 

She’d already turned into the couch, so Youngjae shook his head, “Might as well give her a blanket and not resist. She’s quite stubborn.” Sehun smiled, “So she’s like… your girlfriend?” He inquired. Youngjae looked stricken.    
  
“Please. No. No. She’s like my sister. We grew up together. I think I’ll be weirded out for a while from that question.” He shook his head and then gave Sehun a final smile. “Anyway, just call me if you need anything. Washroom is yours.” Youngjae turned to find Seol a blanket and turn off the lights around the area aside from the hallway and entertainment area.

 

Sehun finally opened the door to his own room and breathed a sigh of relief. It really was mostly unpacked. The only thing he needed to do was stuff his clothes into the closet and he’d be set. Instead he plucked his laptop off the side table and collapsed into his bed. From his bag he pulled out his glasses case and contacts case. Once he’d switched from contacts to glasses he booted his computer and blinked several times to adjust to the transition.

 

He wasn’t actually supposed to do any police work while undercover, aside from “find information” (a phrase he was already growing tired of), so instead he pulled up all the details of his cover to familiarize himself with it. He also pulled up a map of the campus to compare to his schedule.

 

After a few minutes of unwinding he felt himself falling asleep, so he got ready shut his laptop and gather his things to take a shower and rest but noticed one last detail.

  
Under family, it stated that Sehun’s parents were living in the countryside, and then under siblings was the name “Oh Taeyong.”


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update! I've been busy but I hope once the semester starts I'll be able to update more consistently. Your feedback means so much, thank you!

Sehun yawned. And then again. He’d gotten used to the routine of classes, work, and hanging around the campus to learn about the going-on’s, but it seemed dull. There wasn’t much  _ actually _ happening. Of course, every weekend someone would throw a party and half of that year would end up packed into a crowded space and breaking every fire code he could think of, but nothing that stood out. 

 

He was counting cash at the register, wondering about if he was actually supposed to complete his assignments for the courses he was enrolled in, just to maintain his cover… he’d have to ask Taeyong or Chanyeol about that later. It was close to closing, the sun had set a while back and Sicheng was dutifully pushing chairs aside as he swept the length of the shop.

 

After taking Taeyong’s advice, Sehun had learned that yes, Sicheng was a transfer student majoring in arts and language. He struggled slightly with the language, and Sehun inferred that there’d been some remarks made around the shop that had caused him to be nervous when speaking too much. It made Sehun slightly irked, for many reasons.

 

The door chimed when someone pushed in and Sehun raised his head, ready to take a deep sigh and stopped mid breath when he realized it was Taeyong.

 

“I didn’t even have to say your name and you appeared.” He greeted him with a wave. 

 

Taeyong’s ears were sticking up under his baseball cap, his shocking white hair contrasting with his dark eyes, but he smiled at Sehun’s comment as he walked forward to meet him at the counter. “Little bro.” He greeted, and rested his hands on the counter as he gazed up at the menu above.

 

“Let’s have some coffee and chat for a little, hm?” He pointed up, “White mocha for me. I’ll meet you in the booth.” 

 

For a minute Sehun paused, feeling heavy hearted. Taeyong’s smile was soft, but his eyes were concerned. Something seemed off about the situation. While Sehun set to work on the lattes he heard a bright, “Oh! Sicheng!” And the scrape of a chair. Taeyong hadn’t been lying when he said he was fond of Sehun’s coworker. 

 

He placed the latte in front of Taeyong and took a seat, glancing about just to be sure his manager wasn’t about to pop out of nowhere to reprimand him for slacking on the job. He reminded him well enough of Junmyeon at the precinct; kind yet strict, and just as taken with coffee as Junmyeon was with justice. 

 

Warming his hands, he held his own cup, a fruity green tea he was certain he probably wouldn’t finish. 

 

Taeyong cupped his drink and looked down at it, quiet for a moment before he spoke. “We’ve been checking case files of students in the University and they were overlooked because we couldn’t find a connection. There were three apparent suicides… Sometimes investigations aren’t done thoroughly when the face evidence doesn’t point to foul play. It wasn’t our precincts or ME’s office. For two of them, the families just wanted it wrapped up so they could bury their departed.”

 

It almost sounded like Taeyong tripped over the words.

 

“Is there a correlation between the victims? Any specifics that they had?” Sehun leaned forward, brows furrowing.

 

“Second and third year criminology students. It has to be related directly to the University, if not the department itself.” Taeyong took a breath, but Sehun’s phone went off in a upbeat pop song and he untucked it to find that Chanyeol was calling. 

 

“Answer it. I have to leave now anyway.” Sehun nodded, swiping to answer the call as they both got up to go their separate ways. Sehun made his way behind the counter, glad that the shop was empty aside from himself and Sicheng at that moment. While he greeted Chanyeol, he glanced over to find that Sicheng and Taeyong were speaking once more. 

 

“Ah, hyung, what’s going on? I just spoke with Taeyong.” Chanyeol acknowledged his greeting, and then filled in other details before Sehun cut him off. “Does Taeyong hyung seem normal to you?”

 

Sehun could almost hear Chanyeol’s shrug through the phone, “Well he’s never been exactly  _ normal, _ you know? But no. I think Chittaphon mentioned once that serial cases don’t sit well with him. I suppose that’s why he’s in OC and not in Homicide.”

 

He looked up once more to see Sicheng waving at a Taeyong walking out the door. A moment later Youngjae and Seol were walking in, Seol glancing back to watch Taeyong walk away, likely making a comment on his hair.

 

Youngjae waved as he walked up, and Sehun waved back. “Uh, hyung, I have to go. Message me later, okay?” Chanyeol murmured something about staying safe but Sehun was too preoccupied to really comprehend his words as he tucked his phone away.

 

“Fancy seeing you two here. Class just finished up?” He looked between the pair, and Seol finally acknowledged him with a nod.

 

“Do you know that guy?” Youngjae pointed towards the door. 

 

“Why?” Sehun blinked, curious.

 

“Well, Seol says he looked familiar, but I’ve never seen him before. I don’t think he’s a student or a professor here.” Youngjae shrugged, nonchalant.

 

“Oh. No, he isn’t a student here. Maybe you saw him when he came to visit me.” It was Sehun’s turn to shrug. “He’s my brother.” At that, Seol raised a brow and Youngjae laughed. “Whoa, really? You never mentioned having a brother. What does he do?” Sehun internally “uhmmed” for several seconds. 

 

He wasn’t sure what Taeyong’s story would be. Before he could come up with something that would have undoubtably been stupid, Sehun’s manager walked in through the back, wiping his hands on the rag and prompted Sehun. “Oh, right, what can I get for you guys?”

 

He aimed a smile at his manager, Minseok.

Youngjae didn’t linger on their former conversation. “Green tea latte for me, extra hot caramel macchiato for Seol, please.” He waited for Sehun to ring it up before he pressed his phone to the scanner to pay.

 

“I get out in like…” Sehun looked at the clock on the computer, “An hour-ish? Let’s watch a movie when I get home.” 

 

“I was thinking more like let’s all actually get some work done since our classes are being taught by TA’s who are harsh graders instead of our actual professors…” Seol started, “But a movie actually sounds nice. Bring some drinks, we’ll text Mark to bring snacks from work, and we’ll get everything else.”

 

Sehun smiled. “Okay, see you later.” 

  
Once they left, Sehun sighed, a bit relieved. Sicheng had returned to sit behind the counter, looking a bit sad. “Hey, Sicheng, would you like to watch a movie?” 


End file.
